Latest Publications

A Florida landowner seeking a permit to develop part of a wetlands property offered a conservation easement on the undeveloped portion of the parcel to the local water management district. The district indicated it would not...more

The California Supreme Court was recently asked to resolve the issue of “whether a charter city may arbitrate disputes over collectively bargained wage and hour provisions without unlawfully delegating to the arbitrator its...more

A county planning commission posted a meeting agenda that included an item on a potential approval of a subdivision application. At the meeting, the commission not only approved the subdivision, it also approved a Mitigated...more

A municipal water district proposed a project to build a seawater desalination plant to avoid predicted future water supply shortages. After the water district certified an environmental impact report (“EIR”) for the...more

A county interpreted a voter-enacted amendment to its general plan to prohibit the completion of a self-storage facility on property owned by Lockaway Storage, a project that was in the works before the amendment went into...more

An owner of a medical marijuana collective challenged a county zoning ordinance that restricts the location of medical marijuana collectives and cooperatives to commercial and manufacturing zones. The court of appeals...more

A racetrack landowner challenged a regional park district’s plan to condemn part of the property for construction of a bayside trail, asserting that the park district was required under eminent domain law and the California...more

Property owners often bristle at statements that local government staff make to prospective tenants or purchasers of their property, concerned that they will be scared away by overly harsh or inaccurate speech. When those...more

A group of citizens challenged a city’s determination that a proposed residential development qualifies for an exemption under the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) as a residential project that is consistent with...more

A police officer claimed his due process rights were violated when a partner in a law firm advocated on behalf of a department within a city at a non-binding arbitration. Subsequently a partner from the same law firm advised...more

An organization sought to challenge a county’s project approval and certification of an Environmental Impact Report for a 155,000-square-foot building, but filed the case three days late. The trial court dismissed the case. ...more

A cooperative corporation that operates a nonprofit medical marijuana collective challenged city ordinances that ban medical marijuana dispensaries. The court of appeal held that the ordinances are not preempted by the...more

An organization challenged a county’s approval of a final revised environmental impact report for a project that would allow sand and gravel mining in the bed of the Cuyama River. The court of appeal affirmed the trial...more

On November 27, 2012, a court of appeal ordered a city to correct the defects in a project description and alternatives discussion in a final environmental impact report (“EIR”) because the court concluded the city had...more

Taxpayers and a manufacturer of plastic bags challenged a county ordinance that prohibits retail stores from providing customers with plastic carryout bags and requires the stores to charge their customers ten cents for each...more

The federal court of appeals recently rejected certain public officials’ attempt to avoid liability by claiming qualified immunity. In that case, the parents and children of a shooting victim sued a county and individual...more

Assembly Bill 1344 (“AB 1344”), signed by the Governor on October 9, 2011, made several changes to laws involving local governance. The bill was introduced in response to the City of Bell controversy. The provisions of AB...more

An employee on disability leave brought a lawsuit against the county that employed her for failure to reinstate her or to help her apply for disability retirement benefits. A court of appeal held that the employee failed to...more

A city certified an environmental impact report (“EIR”) for development of a park. A conservancy group claimed the city wrongly defined the project to exclude a residential and commercial development project that was pending...more

In a case demonstrating the importance of a well-crafted statement of objectives, the appellate court held that a city erred in certifying a final environmental impact report (“EIR”) and approving a project because the EIR...more

In its most recent foray into the meaning of the Clean Water Act, the Supreme Court has answered the fundamental question: “Does a ‘discharge of pollutants’ occur when polluted water flows from one portion of a river that is...more

In Summit Media, LLC v. City of Los Angeles (--- Cal.Rptr.3d ----, Cal.App. 2 Dist., December 10, 2012), a California court of appeal considered a challenge to a settlement of a lawsuit between outdoor advertising companies...more

In Liu v. City and County of San Francisco (--- Cal.Rptr.3d ----, Cal.App. 1 Dist., December 11, 2012), a California court of appeal considered whether a city police department violated the California Fair Employment and...more

In Basurto v. Imperial Irrigation District (--- Cal.Rptr.3d ----, Cal.App. 4 Dist., November 8, 2012), a California court of appeal considered whether an employee terminated by a public irrigation district could seek civil...more

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